Washington, D.C. – On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke with Lawton-Fort Sill community leaders about issues facing our national defense, addressed DOGE cuts concerns, answered questions about advancing the community, and bolstered his support for Lawton’s lasting impact on the state and our national defense industrial base.

As the Senator noted in his remarks, a crucial piece to Lawton-Fort Sill’s standing as a premiere national defense hub is the Fires Innovation Science and Technology Accelerator (FISTA). It is a model private-public partnership for communities to replicate across the country to support America’s warfighters. As our nation transitions to modern warfare, our defense needs have changed, and it’s more important than ever that we adapt to the needs of today’s warfighter. Partnerships like FISTA put Lawton at the center of advanced weaponry and engineering, which attracts high-paying jobs and business from across the nation to Oklahoma’s growing defense industrial base. 

“What you guys are doing with FISTA is remarkable. It shows partnership, a private-public partnership,” said Sen. Mullin “It is something that while other communities may have tried it, I would say Lawton has led it in understanding what it is actually capable of doing.” 

“The Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce is grateful for the work our Oklahoma delegation is doing in Washington, D.C. and appreciates each of them taking the time to meet with the Lawton community leaders to update us on the future of our country under the current administration,” Austin Rabon, Chairman of the Lawton Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce.

Additional highlights from Sen. Mullin’s remarks are below:

“The President came in very strong on this, saying that he wants to make reforms. He doesn’t want to weaken our military, he wants to strengthen it. But we feel like there’s a lot of opportunities to strengthen it by being more efficient, being more efficient on how we spend the money, being more efficient on the programs that we do, looking at what programs we’re paying for that shouldn’t be there.”  

“There’s some technology that we’re paying for that we started developing 12 years ago. I’m sorry, that technology’s out of date. There’s technology that we’re still working on, platforms we’re still working toward, that was designed to fight the war on terror, not the conventional fight that’s facing us down the road. We’re still paying those… That’s part of the cuts. We’re saying there’s no point in us still using that platform of technology that is not useful today.”

“General Brown… was very proud of what we’re doing in Oklahoma. I will tell you, that’s continued throughout the Department of Defense and you guys, by setting that standard so high for other communities to look at, is a huge bragging point for me. So, thank you for giving me something to hang on.”

“I think we have a true, once in a generation, opportunity to make real changes for the generations that come behind us.”

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